Shen sex-ed policy on Tuesday’s agenda

The Shenendehowa School District will hear recommendations on the school’s sex education policies at tonight’s meeting.

The board meets at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the Gowana Middle School Library.

For two decades, educators from Planned Parenthood Mohawk Hudson discussed abstinence, sexually transmitted diseases, teen pregnancy and other topics with district middle and high school students as part of its health education curriculum. But in October, the district told Planned Parenthood to stop sending the guest speakers after a couple of dozen parents complained.

More than 200 people attended a school board meeting in January to hear about the change, but neither Superintendent Oliver Robinson nor board members provided information on who canceled the courses or why.

Robinson said the district would reconvene its Health Advisory Council to review the health curriculum “to ensure that what we provide at Shenendehowa is something that every parent can be proud of.” Tonight, advisory council members will report their findings to the superintendent and board.

6 Responses

There is no reason a few ignorant parents should be able to destroy a progressive and very useful curriculum for hundreds of students. Newflash: The Bible won’t stop teen pregnancies. Enough is enough. Planned Parenthood is the demonized kickball of the religious right, and the game needs to end now.

Linda, I can understand why you don’t want others to make decisions for “the rest of us”. Can you understand why the reverse would be true and others don’t want you making decisions for them? It seems that some middle ground must be found, and it should start with absolutely having an opt-out for the students, and not only for the AIDS/HIV portion of the curriculum.

It also seems that some who agree with the Health Advisory Council’s recommendations would like to make this only a black and white and/or religious issue. While some are pushing for an abstinence-only curriculum, many of us have no problem with the curriculum as it is…just with the presenters. There is no reason to have controversial organizations come in and teach this very simple material. I’m sure there would be a huge outcry if the Catholic Church were invited to teach sex ed, and my voice would be one of those opposed to that. By the same token, it’s unreasonable to have Planned Parenthood in.

It might even be different if Planned Parenthood representatives were the only ones with this information. Perhaps then there would be some argument for inviting them in. But the fact is, this is not brain surgery. Shen health teachers make between $54,102 and $97,135 plus benefits to teach 185 days a year. (If you find those figures unbelievable, check it out yourself on http://seethroughny.net/payrolls/schools/ ). Surely these professional teachers should be able to present something as simple as sex education? It’s also interesting that 4 of these same teachers (I believe the district has 6 health teachers) are on the Health Advisory Council. It’s not very surprising that they would make a recommendation which would basically allow themselves another few days in the year when they don’t have to work.

If they feel the must have outside presenters, then they should choose representatives from non-controversial organizations. This could include counselors, psychologists, doctors, nurses, etc. to name a few.

Please let’s stop painting every person opposed to the Health Advisory Council’s recommendation as a Bible-thumping, “religious right”, backwards individual. There is a middle ground here, and if we could talk to each other like mature and reasonable adults and stick to the facts, it would be very helpful.

Common Sense: We are talking about 3 days of PP big deal. My daughter went to Shen and doesn’t even remember PP being in the health class (that was 5 years ago). If there are issues with PP they can be addressed as they are doing with this review but just because you oppose PP doesn’t mean it should be taken out, PP is a vital resource for members of the COMMUNITY.

@Andrea – that’s like 2 days longer than when I had it at another school (~10 years ago). First, about a week or two before, and every class up until the person’s visit, there was a reminder this was to happen and any parent who wished them to not be a part of it could get their child excused. The person from PP had a bunch of “props” to show the proper use of IUDs, etc, and diagrams/treatments (if there were any) for many STIs. Nowhere was there ever mentioned that PP even performed abortions, nor were there even handouts about PP. Heck, until reading some stories online later for the class did I even know that PP also performed abortions.

@commonsense – If we take a look at the states that teach comprehensive sex ed (not just abstinence, which is stressed, but proper use of contraceptive devices) have the lowest rate of births, whereas the states that push abstinence-only sex-ed (or none at all) have some of the highest birth rates.

Yes, it might be better if that it was people other than PP who came in to do it. But they have the money and the resources to stay informed of the newer diseases and treatments for many STIs and afford the “props” and storage space for them. You say it’s just because the teacher is “lazy” that he or she passes it off; I would contend that its due to expertise in subject matter and having the time to research it that they are better qualified. The average health teacher already teaches 6.5 hours, then comes home and has to grade some test or assignment. We’ll say that the teacher has 125 students, and to give them the proper attention it needs, they take 5 mins per student. That’s 10.5 hours right there. Assuming they only give one a week (and that’s a light guesstimate, i remember having more) we have already hit 43 hours of work for the week right there. Some of them do try to research in any other free time, but they also have families like you and I do, and would like to spend time with them as well. Find another person willing to come in who would give a comprehensive teaching (from abstinence to all contraceptive use to the negative ramifications that could happen from it) and I’d be for it too; however, I don’t see those people lining up to come in

@ common sense, where do we draw the line on parent/community influence over curriculum and pedagogy? What if in a History class I teach students about all the horrible things the US government has done from Vietnam till now? or present Hitler & Stalin as great leaders who did horrible things? Can we talk about genetics in science class and choices parents could make about a pregnancy knowing whether the child has autism, down syndrome, or other disabiltiies? Could we use the war in Iraq in a math lesson, comparing US deaths vs Iraq civilian casualities in a bar graph? Can we read Harry Potter or Catcher in the Rye in an English class, or are those too controversial?

We live in a secular nation, wherein education should be valued and instruction should be resevred for those trained to teach. If parents have issues with this or other agendas, then they should be able to opt out, home school, or whatever floats their boat, but I’m sick and tired of these religious values people trying to instill their skewed views into our schools. Perhaps a teacher has different values than yours, thats ok, its good experience for the students. I’m greatful that higher education is still protected from the flock